Law enforcement officers have many stresses and concerns about their daily professional lives. One of these concerns is being shot with their own hand gun which has been taken from them during a fight with someone they are trying to arrest. This concern is not without foundation because about twenty law enforcement officers are killed each year in this manner. A substantial motive for a number of law enforcement officers who lift weights is being able to defend themselves in fights, retain possession of their own hand guns and not be shot with them.
This concern has been recognized. A number of proposals have been made to provide hand guns with a means for disarming a hand gun in response to a remote transmitter. The hand guns shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,939,679, 4,003,152 and 4,488,370 are normally inoperative and include a receiver connected to an electromechanical actuator for arming the weapon in response to the presence of a signal from a remote transmitter worn by the authorized person. When the weapon is moved outside the range of the transmitter, it becomes inoperative. The opposite technique is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,435 where the hand gun is normally operative but is rendered inoperative upon receiving a signal from a transmitter worn by the authorized person.
Although these devices are clearly workable, they manifestly require the operation of electromechanical actuators and mechanical linkages and have not, for whatever reason, achieved acceptance in the market place.
Also of some interest relative to this invention are the disclosures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,089,195, 4,811,775 and 4,843,336.